The present invention relates to a novel mineral-containing functional beverage and food and also relates to methods of producing the mineral-containing functional beverage and food.
As is generally known, calcium is one of elements important to living bodies and regarded as essential for the formation of bones, teeth, blood and so forth. Lack of calcium can lead to an attack of a disease such as osteoporosis or a disease of a circulatory organ. The recent progress in dietetics has revealed that the presence of magnesium is necessary when calcium is utilized in the body, and it is said that an ideal ratio of magnesium to calcium is 1:2. Under these circumstances, health foods containing calcium and magnesium are developed in the present state of the art. These foods are provided in the form of solutions by dissolving oxides or carbonates of calcium or magnesium in an inorganic acid or an organic matter to form water-soluble solutions, or in the form of powdered foods by processing the solutions into powders. However, in a case where these inorganic compounds are dissolved in an inorganic acid, the resulting water solution becomes a strong acid salt, which is unfavorable. In a case where the inorganic compounds are dissolved in an organic acid, the resulting water solution forms a precipitate and gets cloudy in a short time. Consequently, the commercial value is lost.